Thursday, November 27, 2014

"Humanity is asleep, concerned only with what is useless, living in a wrong world.... Do not prattle before the People of the Path, rather consume yourself. You have an inverted knowledge and religion if you are upside down in relation to Reality. Man is wrapping his net around himself. A lion (the man of the Way) bursts his cage asunder."

- The Sufi Master Sanai, teacher of Rumi, in The Walled Garden of Truth (1131 C.E.)

Eleven years ago I was eighteen and packing to go to University. I asked my father for a couple of books to take with me. He handed me two battered books, The People Of The Secret by Ernest Scott and The Sufis by Idries Shah.

In the turbulent weeks that came with my first term at University I completely forgot about my books, only to re-discover them a few months later while hibernating in bed after a nasty bout of freshers flu. I started reading The People of the Secret and barely left my room for the next few days in order to finish it. I remember writing down lists of questions and ticking them off as I answered them as another piece of history or knowledge snapped together like jigsaw pieces in my mind. I'm glad I read it first, because it was everything I needed to hear as the final shaky foundations of my angsty teenage atheism crumbled, and prepared me for the next book.

I initially knew nothing about The Sufis, only faintly what Sufism was (Islamic mysticism or something similar?) and that it was written by a man my father knew who died when I was eleven. I have read the book and it has had a great impact on me. On that I am not qualified to elaborate and all I can do is urge you to read it yourself. Here is how I read my copy, a chapter here and a chapter there: I highlight the parts that jump out at me, and then go through the section again and try to focus more on the parts that didn't.

Ending my great risk of 'prattling', I'll pass you on now to more qualified reviewers, John Bell and John Zada writing for Aljazeera on The Sufis as an antidote to fanaticism:

"This month [October 2014] marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of “The Sufis”, penned by the late Idries Shah. This classic by one of the foremost authorities on the subject was written for a western audience caught in a vogue of Oriental spirituality cults, or an overly academic approach to Sufism. The book was designed to help readers come to better grips with what constituted genuine mysticism, and to provide a sense of Sufism’s universality, which according to Shah, went far beyond its role in Islam.

Shah asserts that genuine Sufis are followers of an age-old tradition of experiential knowledge that is flexible and ever evolving, and which aims to bring its adherents to a true understanding of the nature of reality – which the biological brain or the culturally blind mind, operating in a certain mode, cannot ascertain on their own.

Sufis, Shah says, far from necessarily being members of an Islamic sect, have always existed within different faiths and cultures, including those of early antiquity that predated Islam.

It is not a system of thought or an academic process, Shah explains, but a living state. Indeed, Sheikh Abu El Hasan Fushanji sums it up: “Formerly, being a Sufi was a reality without a name. Today, it is a name without a reality.”

In “The Sufis”, we learn of the fascinating, and little-known influence that Sufis have had on the world, including Europe and the West. We are shown, for example, how the music of the Troubadours, the writings of Chaucer and Dante, medieval chivalry, and Freemasonry, as well as many less overtly mystical cultural fruits, are linked to the Sufis of the East.

Many of the “giants” among them are household names all over the world: Jalaludin Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Saadi of Shiraz, Ibn al-Arabi, al-Ghazali – just to name a few. It is partly through their achievements that the idea of Sufis as strictly Islamic mystics is perpetuated. But Shah uses them in this book for illustrative purposes. The most famous Sufis, he suggests, are exemplars of what humans east, west, north and south can be.

Indeed, given the rather strange state of the world, the type of thinking outlined in “The Sufis”, and other books by Shah, may be more needed than ever. With its flexible and organic approach to life and its refreshing lack of exclusivism, Sufism represents a powerful counterpoint to the dogmatic and violent fixations of extremists everywhere. In contrast to the closed extremist, oblivious and often inimical to his or her context, the Sufi might be defined as one who is open, through experience and learning, to any, and all, possibilities appropriate to an ever-widening horizon of contexts."

The Idries Shah Foundation has embarked on a programme to re-publish many more of Shah's books, all as relevant (or more relevant) today as when they first appeared, given the state of the world we are living in.

The East, where this knowledge sprung from, may in particular benefit from a reintroduction, which is why subscriptions to the foundation have made it possible for 32,000 books by
Idries Shah (which include children's books [scroll down]) and related Eastern classics to be sent to Afghanistan — where they are
going to be distributed for free to schools, universities, and public
libraries. It's like the literary equivalent of the rediscovering of the crafts used to build the original Minbar of Saladin.

The 50th Anniversary Edition of The Sufis is physically stunning in design and quality, reflecting its inner content. It is a book that will be read and re-read by me for the rest of my life.

Full disclosure: I was contacted by the Idries Shah Foundation and offered a copy of their new 50th Anniversary paperback edition of The Sufis. They invited me to mention it on my blog which I am very grateful for as it has caused me to reflect on the effect the book had on me and how I must read it again soon.

This book would be the perfect Christmas presentfor the seamstress in your life: I've flicked through a copy and I'd be hard pressed to find a craft book more functional, colourful and fun. The instructions are detailed enough for even a needle-phobe (like me) to follow, with colour photos of every step, fold out patterns and extra info on sewing techniques, materials and tools.

"The book focuses on the Tote bag, that's to say a bag with two handles,
and I really wanted to include as broad a range of designs as possible,
so inside you'll find projects ranging from a teddy bed tote for young
children, to an oilcloth car caddy, to a velveteen evening bag. There
are also lots of techniques covered such as reverse appliqué, kanzashi
flowers, embroidery and freezer-paper stencilling. I'm so pleased with
the final appearance of the book; the team at Quintet and my editor
Julie Brooke have done an amazing job with beautiful photography and
layouts - it has a spiral binding with hardback cover which has to be my
favourite thing as a consumer of craft books as it means you can have
the book open flat in front of you whilst working through a pattern.
There are also plentiful colour photographs to illustrate the steps, as
well as full-size pattern pieces in an envelope at the front of the
book."

A few of the bags from the book. The possibilities are endless. 30 bag designs.. infinite fabric choices.... it will keep you busy for many years!

Here's a YouTube thumb through so you can get an idea how well written and snazzily designed this book is!

30 Totes & Bags to Sew: Quick & Easy Bags for all Occasions
£14.99
by Helen Angharad Henley
A book of 30 bag designs ranging from the fun to the functional. The book has a hardback spiral binding for ease of use, allowing it to be opened out flat as you work. Full-sized pattern pieces are included in an envelope at the front of the book.
144 pages with colour step-by-step photography.
Published in 2014 by Search Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78221-096-2

Monday, October 20, 2014

We went on an autumnal walk from Redbrook to the tiny Penallt Old Church, a 13th Century Grade 1 listed building that turned out to be much more interesting that I first thought.

We walked in and someone had made these wonderful harvest festival displays of colourful fruit and flowers on every window ledge. Rainbows of apples, pears, berries, chinese lanterns, courgettes, sheaves of wheat, gourds and pots of the last autumn flowers.

Trying to get a picture of this treehouse in someones garden on the way up.

It started raining but it didn't matter!

The ancient parish chest (13th Century!), hewn from a single trunk of wood. What did they keep in it??

He finally wore his scarf!

The door of the porch, which was built in 1539, still bears the date carved into the door.

The view from the top.

There was a lot of industry and mining in that area, all lost now, but you see remnants everywhere, old millstones, pipes overgrown with weeds and ivy and apparently, dates carved on wall stones!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

I recently saw a really interesting documentary called Stairway to Heaven about a fascinating subject I knew nothing about - The Minbar of Saladin. It's a story of strange coincidences, sacred objects, almost extinct crafts, a quest for rediscovery and quite bizarrely, Prince Charles. I found it really worth watching and so I'm sharing it here with you! It's not very long but I guarantee you'll be thinking about it for a while after it finishes.

A minbar is a the name in Islam for what can be compared with a Christian pulpit in a church. However unlike a pulpit, a minbar is often shaped like a small tower with stairs leading up to it and is elaborately decorated. The Iman stands at the top and delivers sermons to the worshippers below.

The most important minbar in the world, dating from 1187, was the Minbar of Saladin. This incredibly beautiful and elaborate wooden construction was installed in the great al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem by Saladin, the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria who led the 12th Century Muslim opposition against European crusaders in the Eastern Mediterranean.

For 800 years the minbar ranked among the world’s most
precious masterpieces of Islamic art, being built entirely with the principles of sacred Islamic
geometry and using no nails, screw or glue, only many thousands of separate pieces of precisely carved, interlocking, patterned woodwork blocks.

The original Saladin Minbar, photographed in 1900

In 1969, the minbar of Saladin was burned to ashes when the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem was attacked by a fanatical Australian Christian. This was a incomprehensible loss to the Islamic world so very quickly, consideration of its reconstruction began. While researching the design, it was realised that the Islamic craftsmanship necessary to build the minbar was all but extinct. And so the search began to find someone able to recreate the minbar, the final result of which would take over 30 years to realise...

The story behind this project prompted a resurgence of traditional Islamic artisanship and artistry in Jordan, with the help and support of HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH Prince Ghazi of Jordan.

Did you know that Cranes were widespread in
the UK until the 17th Century? They were over-hunted for food and their
wetland habitats were drained and destroyed until they finally died out.
Lots of town, village and field names with ‘cran-’ in them are actually
derived from ancient names related to cranes.
Here’s a juvenile in
Slimbridge Wetlands where over the last 5 years they have been slowly
and carefully rearing 100 crane chicks and releasing them back into the
Severn estuary. We saw a wild one from the hides that look out over the
river.

Sorry for not updating this blog recently. I was reading some of my old posts and thinking I really should write something here soon. Carving out time to sit down and write a post has been low on my list of priorities this summer - however I would still like to keep a record of my doings....

I've had a great summer, lots of things have fallen into place for us and sometimes I can't get used to this feeling of how grounded and stable we are right now with where we live, the house that I still can't believe is ours, our community, finances (finally!) and just how we go about things day to day. I am in a good groove at the moment and long may it last.

Mostyn, who is now three, goes to playgroup three mornings a week (which he adores) and in that short amount of free time I have to choose between exercise, housework or freelance stuff, if I'm not at work. Usually exercise and freelance work wins, I never do nothing in that time. (I save my nothing for evenings from about 8pm, when Mostyn's in bed, we either watch Netflix or I play Skyrim while Huw works on music or programming upstairs. I've started learning to crochet so fill that time more productively!). I try to do a Shred Level 2 or 3, shower quickly and then an hour or so of work. This last week I've had too much work and a haircut to fit in my Shred so I need to get back on that. This year, for the first time, I have really begun to appreciate how much my body likes getting regular exercise.

married

After we got married at the end of June everyone kept saying "doesn't it feel different now?" but no, it doesn't at all. After 7 years together what can possible change? The stress of organising and taking part in your own wedding is something I'm glad to have in the past... as someone who has never liked being in the limelight I think I did ok, though I don't actually remember a lot of it because I was so wound up!

I was so worried about everyone enjoying themselves. It was a very small and low budget affair and I (and all my amazing family and family-in-law) did our absolute best to make the hall we hired look nice and have the day run smoothly - I played with my band for a bit, that didn't work our quite as I'd hoped as one member didn't show up and the other guys were all late but I think it was still nice. There was a bit of dancing and the BBQ was delicious. We couldn't go on until late because there were lots of young children there (including our own!) but overall it was exactly what we wanted. Low key, non traditional and intimate. No expensive wedding photographer - just family photos, only a few people in the room at the registry office, a handmade bouquet from my dad's wife, Huw's mum and dad doing the flowers, my mum making a gorgeous wedding cake, 15 punnets of local strawberries and cream. I really hope everyone who came had a nice time.

We walked into the ceremony room together with Mostyn and all his cousins to a piano track that Huw composed just after Mostyn was born. We chose brazillian and reggae music for when we were signing the book that reminded us of our time talking online that first year, sharing music over MSN and talking until 5am.

Wedding present drawn by our friend Lucy :D

Moroccan lantern from my sister

My friend made us an incredible quilt!!

We toyed with the idea of not having a wedding at all, just a registry office with 2 witnesses, but I'm glad we did. I saw friends I haven't seen for ages who came so far for it, and all of our friends were so generous and wonderful. With our wedding gifts we were able to buy a new sofa and get some bits for the house we hadn't been able to afford before. We decided to use both our surnames for all three of us, no hyphen.

domestics
Downstairs is now finished. We have curtains up ready for when the weather turns and some new floating wooden shelves that Huw has been wanting forever. It's so cosy down here now and I can't wait for Winter to come! I want our next project to be the bathroom, which I hate every element of, but I don't know when we are going to have the time and money to be able to do something with it.

I also learned to crochet last week and I've got lots of projects in mind for the winter. It's incredibly addictive and satisfying:

The top squares are what I made from wool I had left over from a peg loom rug I made last year. I'm going to send them to a lady on Instagram who joins donated squares into blankets for homeless people in South Wales!

I got a large, unexpected and very welcome tax rebate so I bought this pack of 15 balls of wool chosen by Attic24 - the ripple cottage blanket they are designed for is a bit beyond me but I'm making little granny squares from the wool (I really like the colours) to make into a blanket.

I've got more things to say but it will have to wait! Hasta la vista...